History

The Cactus Mine was first identified as a silver mine in 1870,
one of the earliest in the San Francisco Mining District. A
succession of companies over the next thirty years failed to profit
from the mine. A small smelter was built here in 1892, but was never
successful.[2]
Everything changed in 1900, when Samuel Newhouse bought the property. A
wealthy Salt Lake City
entrepreneur, Newhouse had successfully financed the development of
copper mining at Bingham
Canyon Mine two years before. Finally enough capital was
available to make the Cactus Mine workable. The mining camp that
formed on his land was initially known as Tent Town, for
the temporary nature of its dwellings.[3]

Under Newhouse's management the silver mining business began to
boom. By 1905, the town, now named Newhouse, had many
permanent structures, including a restaurant, library, livery
stable, hospital, stores, hotel, opera house, and dance hall.
Samuel Newhouse was an experienced developer and promoter, and he
kept tight control over his company town. He built over seventy stucco company houses for miners
to rent.[4] The
company piped water 5 miles from the Wah Wah Springs and installed
an electrical generation system. A town park was irrigated with excess water left over from
mining and culinary use.[3]
Mr. Newhouse named town businesses after the mine: Cactus Trading
Company, Cactus Club, Cactus Dancehall, Cactus Cafe. Public
drunkenness was strictly forbidden, and the only saloon permitted
was built a mile from town, off of Newhouse's property. Mr.
Newhouse offered a $50 prize to the first parents to have a baby in
Newhouse, and he gave all the town's children Christmas
presents.[5]

Newhouse's success was short-lived. By 1910, the Cactus Mine was
worked out, and other area mines never amounted to much. Most of
the miners took their families elsewhere. Many buildings, including
the well-built dance hall, were moved 30 miles (48 km)
away to Milford.
The cafe kept operating, serving those few miners who stayed on,
until 1921 when it burned down.[3]